The idea of dating never really occurred to you. Many people glorify the first date, even if it were at a small fast food place or simply walking around the block. The very concept of dating was just the day, the month, and the year up until you picked up your first romance book.
But a part of you liked the idea of just being with someone, and not thinking about anything else. To be so comfortable that you didn't even need a reason to be together, you just were.
"Y/N." Mina waved in front of your face and you looked away from your phone, which only displayed your lock screen. "You good?"
"...Have you ever been on a date?"
She tilted her head. "No, not yet. I'm waiting for the right guy still. Why?"
You shrugged. "Shouto and I don't really do couple things together. Should we?"
"Only if you want, but you guys aren't really the most romantic people in the world. Do you want to?"
"I want to try it out. What do you do on a date?"
Mina mimicked your shrug. "Hang out? It depends on where you're going."
You looked around her dorm as if you'd find inspiration for a date but you soon found that you and Mina were very different people.
"Just go somewhere you and Todoroki will like," she advised, moving towards one of the shelves of magazines that she has. "There's a ton of great date places in Japan!"
She tossed you a stack of magazines and you flipped through them, staring at their covers. You stopped on one, eying the whale in the bottom corner of the cover.
"That's an aquarium-rescue animal type of thing," Mina said when she noticed that you stopped on it. "It's in page 27, see?"
You flipped to the page and Mina's lips curled into a grin. "It's nearby! Why don't you invite Shouto to go?"
"But I don't think he likes sea creatures."
"Y/N, he likes anything that makes you smile. He always has that whale earring, flaunting it like a million dollars. It's on his bag or his belt or in his hand, it's like you gave him gold! If he says no, then so be it."
If he says no...
You nodded and placed the magazine back in the pile. "I have patrol. See you."
•••
The next evening, you were helping clean up after dinner when Shouto appeared beside you, placing dirty plates beside the sink.
"Ask him now!" your mom's voice echoed.
You glanced at him with a part of you telling yourself to ask him on a date and the other part of you telling you that he would say no.
"Do you need help?" he asked, to which you shook your head. But he still stood there in silence.
You wanted to see if you could read what he was thinking, share a mind for just a moment, but you didn't want to be intrusive. You weren't a spy anymore.
You put the last dish on the drying rack and turned to him. "Is something wrong?"
He shook his head. "Ashido told me that you wanted to go on a date."
Snitch! "It was just a passing thought."
"So... you don't actually want to go on a date?"
"I wouldn't be opposed to it."
He let a small smile appear on his face. "So, where would you want to go?"
"I'm not sure." You were completely sure. The picture of the whale on the bottom corner of the magazine's cover came to mind the moment he asked. The address was engraved in your brain the moment you looked at it.
But more than anything, you wanted Shouto to be happy. It's the least I could do.
"We'll list some things," he said. "I'd assume aquarium is on the list?"
Your brows raised and he smiled softly before digging into his pocket. He took your hand and dropped the left whale earring you had left with him on the battlefield into your palm.
"I don't really have anywhere I want to go. Why don't we go to the aquarium?"
A glint of excitement entered your eyes. "Okay... but we're getting cold soba after."
"Whatever you say."
•••
You sat in front of Yaoyorozu as she did your hair and Mina and Hagakure were looking obsessively through your closet.
"Your hair is so soft, Y/N!" Yaoyorozu marvelled as she braided a small section.
"White vintage sweater?" Mina questioned, holding it up to Hagakure.
"Hm... put it in the maybe pile."
Tsu, Jirou and Uraraka burst through your dorm's door. "We have accessories and makeup!"
"I want to wear the necklace Ojiro gave me," you said. Uraraka sat next to you and began searching through your jewelry box, which was discarded at the old dorm so you didn't have to bring too much. "Ah, here it is!"
"Don't forget my-"
"Yes, the ring Todoroki gave you!" Uraraka placed it on your ring finger. "There!"
You took a sip of your coffee from the cat mug you got from Kota before Jirou took it from your hands. "No more coffee! You're leaving in an hour and you still don't have an outfit!"
"We're still finding pants!" Mina held up a pair of jeans and a pair of leggings to Hagakure.
After a while, your clothes were on you and your hair was done, so you were trapped behind a makeup brush and beauty blender for another 15 minutes. "Which lip tint looks best?" Uraraka asked Tsu as she held up the two lip tints next to your face.
"The darker one."
"Yeah, you're right. Here's your bag, Y/N."
"Thanks." Once Uraraka was finished, you looked in the mirror, feeling suddenly a lot more nervous than usual. Shouto had seen you in your hero costume and your very baggy clothing and that was it.
"You look gorgeous," Yaoyorozu said.
You pursed your lips together and clutched your bag. "Thank you... I'll be going now."
"Have fun!" Mina waved.
"Hold on!" Jirou handed you your headphones. "Just in case."
You nodded and left, making your way to Shindo's family's cafe. If you were going to places that you wanted to go to, then everything you ate and drank would be things Shouto liked.
"Don't you look fancy?" Shindo noticed as he wiped down the table you liked to sit at, right next to the window but close enough to the counter for Shindo's mom to notice you when you waved her down. "What's the occasion?"
You shrugged. "Date."
"Date?!" He stood up straight. "With who?! Wait, no, I know who; it's that Todoroki guy, isn't it?"
Your face flushed and you looked away.
"Ah, and the poker face breaks." He leaned on the table with a smug grin. "Well, what are you doing here? I know you'd never let a date be here."
"Of course not... you'd be watching like a hawk. Or your mom would be, at least." You followed him to the counter. "What are you doing here anyway?"
"I'm too injured to actually do any hero training." Shindo motioned to his cast on his right arm. "So I'm helping out my mom."
You hummed and pointed at one of the drinks on the menu taped onto the countertop.
He frowned. "Huh. That's not what you usually order."
"One of those... and the thing I usually order."
"Ah, for Todoroki." He took your money and let the smug grin reappear on his face.
You watched him make the drink and a smile appeared on your face. "Hey Shindo?"
He placed the tray with the two drinks on the counter. "Yeah?"
"Tell me how your next date with Nakagame, okay?"
You watched his face turn beet red and you slyly took your drinks and waved innocently as you left.
•••
You noticed Shouto standing at the entrance of the aquarium. The moment he saw you, his face brightened and he hid away his phone into his back pocket.
"Hello," you greeted. "I have coffee."
"Thanks." His eyes traced down your body, then back up to your face. "You look nice."
"So do you. More than nice, actually." You shifted your weight from one foot to another. "Shall we go inside?"
"Of course." He opened the front door and waited for you to walk through before following after.
Upon entering, a child immediately ran past your feet and made you stumble. "Quite energetic, they are," Shouto noted as he held out his arm for you to hold.
"And without coffee."
The two of you walked up to the front desk and Shouto spoke to the lady while you stared at your shoes, the thought that you were with Shouto. He was standing right next to you. On a date.
You didn't think it would ever happen. Frankly, you were sure you would've died long before anyone could even call you their friend. Your hand went to the necklace around your neck and you began fidgeting with the charm at the end between your fingers.
"Let's go," Shouto said.
You looked at him and smiled. "Yeah. Let's go."
A majority of the rooms were dark with glowing displays of different fish. One room was nearly pitch black if it weren't for the bioluminescent animals within the tanks.
"Careful," Shouto warned as you stumbled again. I am never letting Mina choose my shoes again. "Sorry."
"Hold onto my arm, it's hard to see in here."
Your face went warm and you squeezed his arm, hoping the quickness of your heartbeat wasn't obvious.
When you looked up at him, you noticed that you were holding his left arm; his fire side.
Once you realized, you didn't even flinch. You moved closer, squeezed tighter, so much so that he looked with a raised brow. "Are you scared or something?"
"No... not at all."
Trust is a funny thing. It just kind of happens. It's not something you decide to do, not even if you try to avoid it.
Not that you had a problem with it. Before you would've, but with this boy at your arm and a smile that didn't hesitate to appear, you found that it was much nicer than caring if you trust them or not.
You remembered first entering Shindo's family's cafe and being too paranoid to order anything you didn't know of before. Never wanting to be in one place for too long out of fear that it would suddenly burst into flames.
It's kind of hard to love when you can't trust anyone with it.
"Y/N, let's skip the fossils," Shouto said.
"Hm? Why?"
"I want to show you something."
"Have you been here before?"
"Well... no, I saw it on the map at the front desk."
You moved away from him, but not letting go of his arm. "You're relying on your memory to guide me through our first date?"
"Don't you trust me?"
You sighed. "Lead the way."
He strayed from the crowd of people moving on to the display of fossils and followed a descending narrow tunnel that was dimly lit by lights on the ground that came every few steps.
Soon enough, the walls were then glass and you were completely surrounded by water.
You entered an underwater room completely made of glass that seemed to go all the way up to the surface. However, the tank was empty.
Shouto pulled up his sleeve and looked at his watch. "Any minute now," he said.
"Until what?"
"Just wait."
You hummed and looked up at the empty waters that surrounded the entire space. There were only a handful of people there, some sitting down and leaning on the tank, and others seeming to be ready to leave.
As the seconds ticked closer to 4:30, more people began flooding in.
You glanced at the stand where information about the sea creature. "A... what?"
A large door from inside the tank opened and your eyes went wide as a beautiful whale came swimming out, the sound of its song echoing through the entire room. "A humpback whale..."
"What's that?" you asked, sitting down next to Shigaraki as he played a video game.
"That? It's a whale... you don't get out much, do you?"
"Do you like it?" Shouto asked as he walked up beside you.
"They're beautiful..."
He stared at you, as if counting the stars that began forming in your eyes. He buried his hand in his pocket and took in a deep breath. "Y/N?"
"Yes?"
"Can I ask you something? It might be a little early, so I wouldn't be surprised if you said no."
"What is it?" When you turned, your hands went over your mouth with a gasp. You were met with Shouto knelt on one knee, a ring box in his hand and a flushed look on his face.
He cleared his throat. "You... said you wanted a proper proposal after the battle. I'd understand if you want to wait a while, but I thought that... after everything that happened, there's nothing to lose. I thought about it a lot, and I know that I really, really love you. A lot."
For once, doubts didn't swirl in your head, mistakes resurfacing that reminded you of how many things you've messed up.
The answer was clear.
You looked at the ring, then at him. You opened your mouth to answer but the word got caught in your throat.
So you just nodded.
He smiled and he stood up, pulling you in as you covered your face. Claps and cheers sounded through the room as the whale's song marked the moment.
"I won't make you regret this," he promised.
You shook your head and looked up at him once more, placing your arms around his neck, placing a kiss on his lips. "I think I'm done with regrets now, Shouto."